The Tempest Critics

not only are their histories similar and their powers interchangeable but both sorceress and magician are driven by the same passion – anger

Sir Peter Hall

the most blasphemous play that shakespeare ever wrote…

Todd

Stephano’s murder plot is based on folly rather than evil

Liz Dolimore

The best of Shakespearean Humour is undercut with sadness-

Thomas MacFarland

views the Tempest as an affirmation of pastoral values and Christian perspectives, Prospero is a godlike figure who presides over a golden world a place of social harmony where evil is defeated.

outline of pastoral romances

three part structure of pastoral drama- flight or exile from court or city, retreat to a rural setting, and return. It leads to personal evaluation and growth.

Ronald B Bond

contends as says the play deviates from the pastoral tradition by showing ones obligation to contribute to society through active devotion.

Richard Adams opening prepares us

such opening prepares us… for a play in which order and authority are not fixed absolutely’

Richard Adams and social organization

Social organization depends to some degree on setting and circumstances’-

Ricahard Adams Disagree he cares more here

The domestic order on Prospero’s island is but a shadow of the political order ay the head of which he once stood as Duke of Milan’-

Emma Reeves

Relationships with Prospero are ‘amicable, even affectionate, until the subject questions Prospero’s right to control.’

Kahn

claims “Prospero displays a superb combination of power and control”

Kermode

‘Prospero’s assumption of his right to rule the island is the natural assumption of a European Prince

David Lindley

The play is often seen as a play about power and control but perhaps it should be seen as a play about the illusion of freedom-

Miranda Nesler

Ariel represents the shifting nature of gender as it was regarded at the time-

E. M. W Tillyard (Antonio)

Antonio is indeed one of Shakespeares major villains

E. M. W Tillyard (Caliban)

Prospero felt thus, partly because Caliban’s conspiracy typifies the evil of the world which has so perplexed him and partly as he is still tempted tp be revenged on Alonso and Antonio’-

Paul Edwards

says ‘there is more poetry in him and less unmotivated violence than in the civilised Antonio and Sebastian’

Paul Brown

says Caliban’s action ‘legitimises Prospero’s take over of power’

Rex Gibson

Shakespeare presents a eurocentric view of colonisation in The Tempest –

Mannon

Caliban does not complain of being exploited; he complains rather of being betrayed –

Delvin

Caliban is master of the situation-

Ann Thompson absent females

argues absent females characters endorse Prospero’s power and dominance in the play

Ann Thompson patriarchal assumption

Miranda demonstrates that she has fully internalized the patriarchal assumption that a woman’s main function is to provide a legitimate succession when asked to comment in the Wickedness of Propero’s brother’

Ann Thompson Miranda’s sexuality

Prospero must control Miranda’s sexuality before he hands her over to Ferdinand”.

Ania Loomba

argues that Sycorax ‘stands in complete contrast to the white virginal and obedient Miranda’.

Julie Taymor’s

version of the play is a ‘message of female empowerment’

Mike Bret

It could be argued that Miranda’s apparent freedom is entirely illusionary –